The Permaculture Cat

There is a saying “Cats were once believed to be God – Cats have never forgotten this”. Going by how my own cats behave I tend to believe there’s a lot of truth in that. Love them or not, cats have been kept by mankind for centuries. Some for pure companionship, some revered for their specific breed traits, some for their hunting abilities. Farmers more than anyone know how useful a barn cat can be in keeping mice & rodent’s numbers down and for protecting their stocks feed. And yet in the suburban setting, at least where I live in New Zealand, cats seem to have become unfairly targeted as a gardeners enemy number 1.

Just a quick search though my local online gardening pages it takes only a matter of minutes to see multiple posts asking “How do I keep my cats out of my garden?”. As a permaculture practitioner I scratch my head and ask “Why on earth would you want to?”.

It seems people are wanting to segregate their cats from their gardens when actually they can easily & successfully be integrated, becoming a valuable component of the systems we create and use to support our gardens production. I’ve searched also though many permaculture books and online resources for reference to integrating our fury felines into our permaculture designs. There’s a plethora of information about integrating chickens, ducks, geese, bees, worms, goats…the list goes on. But when it comes to the benefits of integrating the humble (or in their eyes not so humble) cat, there’s not a mention to be seen.

I’m a single townie girl living on a small 500sqM residential property in suburban New Zealand. Having been inspired while completing my Permaculture Design Certificate, I have replaced my entire lawn with a small scale edible food forest. Instead of wasting petrol on lawn mowing, I now graze my way through over 50 varieties of fruit trees, plus organic vegetables & edible flowers which I share with free range chickens and two hives full of foraging bees. I am also blessed to share this space with two feline Gods. In fact I don’t just happen to share it, it was created with their needs in mind right from the start of the design phase. Sure these cats are spoilt. Sure they share my bed keeping me warm on a winters night. But they’re also integrated by design because they also have their jobs to do which help make the food forest successful and productive.

There’s no getting away from the fact that cats are obligate carnivores. Their bodies are magnificently designed and their instincts sharply honed to find and hunt prey. On my property that prey comes in the form of mice and the occasional rat from a nearby stream who attempt to burrow into the chook house to dine on grains. I say ‘attempt’ because the cats rapidly intervene putting a stop to that! Not only do they efficiently despatch they also devour which I’m also grateful for. That’s nourishing food for both their body and their mind and saves me an icky clean up job to do. Thanks Cats!

Being territorial creatures cats are great defenders of ‘their patch’. Mine have accepted the chickens belong on their patch. They’ve become avid chook defenders many a time chasing off stray cats who may have entertained the idea of chicken tonight for their dinners. One of these cats (the smallest) has developed the persona of a tiger – chasing both dogs and possums off their patch. Yes the very occasional vet bill does arise when she bites off more than she can chew, but there is no stopping a cat who feels defend her territory she must!

A common complaint is that cats kill wild birds. Yes they do there’s no denying that. But there’s also common complaints of wild birds decimating crops and damaging yields too. In this respect my cats have become my allies. My property is boarded by magnificent tall ancient trees in which the native Tui and Wood Pigeons live, and have done for years. I’m quite happy to share yield which they take from the high canopy layers I can’t reach anyway.

This leave the cats patrolling the ground layers scaring off common sparrows and such which leaves me with more than enough harvest to share with family, neighbours and friends. The birds in their own way benefit from the cats as well. The birds seem to recognise when the cats are getting their regular brushing & grooming done outside. They quickly gather then fly off with beaks laden with cat hair presumably to weave into their nests in ready to raise their young. Not even cat hair gets wasted around here!

One of the perils of suburban living is having the occasional unwanted visitor on site helping themselves to your gardening efforts. While I’m all for sharing, I’m not real comfortable having intruders sneaking around my patch at night. My cats with acute hearing act as my early warning alarm in this respect, warning me of visitors and letting me know all is not right outside. With fences not good enough to contain dogs, I’m ever grateful for my cat’s defence of house and home.

A final common complaint I hear against cats is they dig and poo in the vegetable garden. “How do I stop them” people cry!! Well guess what….cats are just like every other living creature and need to poo, so my question back is always “Have you given them somewhere they are allowed to go toilet”? This usually results in complete silence or a look like I’ve gone completely balmy. Townie folk will happily walk behind their dogs with poo bags or clean their lawns of it without thought and they’ll clean out the chook house without complaint, but often the toileting needs of their humble cat are completely overlooked.

Cats are clean animals who will bury their waste for you if you just give them a patch of tilled ground they are allowed to use. They don’t dig big holes like dogs do, just enough to scratch over to cover their waste will do. I believe it’s every cat owner’s responsibility to provide this need for their cat, especially in a suburban setting if you don’t want your neighbours complaining! As for keeping them off young plant seedlings there a myriad of ways to erect small temporary barriers over and around young plants. A quick internet search will reveal plenty of options. Keeping garden beds full and well mulched helps too – cats are more inclined to crawl between the jungle of plants then to find a shady place to nap. Being fastidious cleaners they don’t poo where they sleep.

In return for all the multitude of ways my cats contribute to my food forest gardens, I ensured I incorporated their needs and preferences in my design with arbours that double as climbing poles, interesting mulched pathways they race through, and leaving built structures like stairs open underneath where they can get shade from the sun or escape under if they need quick safety from chasing dogs. I have plans to add more poles with joining overhead structures to increase my growing space and these will double as a network of overhead sky walks for the cats…now what cat wouldn’t want that! It’s the least I can do for something that works so hard and from which both the food forest and I gain so much benefit.

As I write this dusk has fallen and I’m being reminded than army doesn’t march on an empty stomach and nor do cats about to their start their nightly defence patrols. So I’m off now to feed the beasts for it seems like me, a permaculture cats work is never done.

Here’s to all the permaculture cats out there – long may they work for you and long they reign.